Becoming a Movie Star, System Only Finished Loading After Ten Years
Chapter 61 - 0060: Everyone Who Used It Says It’s Great! (Requesting First Subscription and Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 61: Chapter 0060: Everyone Who Used It Says It’s Great! (Requesting First Subscription and Monthly Tickets)

Fortunately, the reconciliation of the three women didn’t affect Qi Hao’s standing in the crew.

On the contrary, because the division of "Tang Monk’s Flesh" was confirmed, Yang Mi and Liu Shishi both accepted that it would be Tang Yan who "enjoyed" Qi Hao, thus reducing a lot of troublesome matters.

The crew primarily shot scenes featuring Qi Hao and Tang Yan, greatly increasing their interactions.

From the crew extras and staff, the media could buy some photos every now and then.

For example, today Tang Yan and Qi Hao shot a warm scene again.

Today Tang Yan and Qi Hao filmed a fight scene, with Tang Yan chasing Qi Hao.

Today Tang Yan and Qi Hao read a book together, Qi Hao recited poetry to Tang Yan, and they were romantic poems indeed...

If you believe the media’s updates, calling them the crew’s couple would be putting it lightly.

Tang Yan didn’t need to spend money on press releases; her rumored relationship with Qi Hao was a hot topic.

As her agent Ji Rujing put it, Qi Hao was really useful.

Everyone who used him said he was great!

In fact, shooting warm scenes or fight scenes were all part of the job, with no real romance involved.

Especially when filming fight scenes, Tang Yan’s amateurish hits left Qi Hao covered in bruises.

They had no mutual understanding at all, quite far from An Feng’s level.

Qi Hao admitted, they did read a book together, and he did recite poetry to Tang Yan.

It was Tang Yan who came over on her own initiative.

Qi Hao asked her to help randomly pick a few poems for him to recite, to test how much he could remember.

Who knew she’d pick such a poem?

"Jiangnan Willows," the leaves small and not yet giving shade. The thread will not be broken easily, the oriole finds the branch too tender to perch. Wait for the deep spring to come. At fourteen or fifteen, idly holding the pipa seeking. On the steps throwing coins, walking below, we met early when attentive. Not to mention now.

This is Ouyang Xiu’s "A Look at Jiangnan: Jiangnan Willows."

Actually, this particular poem doesn’t seem that intense at first glance, but only understanding the background reveals the frivolous tone and ambiguous intentions.

It reveals a middle-aged uncle’s complex for Lolitas, the irresistible youthful charm.

Qi Hao didn’t suspect that Tang Yan was teasing him on purpose.

Because... Tang Yan simply didn’t have that level.

Even after Qi Hao recited it in front of her, she still looked bewildered and in awe.

Her clear eyes were full of invisible wisdom.

Tang Yan seemed very grateful to Qi Hao for allowing her to stir up rumors. She treated everyone to meals multiple times during filming.

To avoid any misunderstanding, the meals weren’t romantic dinners for two, but included Qi Hao’s agent Zhang Nan, her own agent Ji Rujing, and sometimes even Yang Mi and Liu Shishi.

What Qi Hao really hoped for was that the actors working with him could perform normally, without constant NGs.

While filming, he hadn’t forgotten to find and study "The Tale of Two Donkeys" that Li Dawei mentioned.

"The Tale of Two Donkeys" is a medium-length novel.

The story takes place during the "struggle" era, using donkeys to write about human nature, intriguingly uncovering the twisted and distorted human nature in a specific era through a legendary confrontation between man and donkeys.

The author is Wang Song.

Qi Hao was surprised to discover that Wang Song turned out to be his fellow countryman, originally from the capital, born in Jinmen, graduated from Jinmen Normal University, and is a professional writer of the Jinmen Writers Association.

After reading the novel, Qi Hao didn’t quite understand it.

After all, his cultural level was limited, but guessing from the novel’s angle on the script, he suspected it was a play between man and donkey.

If that’s true, then it really tests one’s acting skills.

Qi Hao didn’t settle for merely memorizing "The Tale of Two Donkeys"; he also sought out other works by the author to read.

To better understand the author’s thoughts and academic principles.

Overall, the story was quite interesting; he just wondered what the screenplay adaptation would look like.

Adaptations fall under Schrodinger’s principles.

Some literary works remain quite like the original after adaptation, with little change from form to core.

But some adaptations are unrecognizable.

While you can’t say there’s no relationship with the original, at most the title still reflects the original’s shadow.

Qi Hao contacted Li Dawei, expressing his interest in "The Tale of Two Donkeys," but hoped to see the complete script.

Li Dawei wasn’t just in touch with Qi Hao alone.

But none of the others paid him any attention.

Nowadays, young actors choose roles based on looks, chemistry, and rank; asking them to act in rural films of that era with two donkeys is something they’d never consider.

Li Dawei was already thinking about using second- and third-tier actors.

Besides, he doesn’t have much money for cast compensation.

Hearing that Qi Hao was interested in the script, Li Dawei brought it over directly, seizing the chance to play the victim and see if he could get Qi Hao to act for free.

The two met at the hotel where Qi Hao was staying.

"The script is finished, Comment teacher handled it..." Li Dawei handed the script to Qi Hao.

"Comment?!" Qi Hao was quite surprised.

Damn, are all second generations so arrogant? You’re just making a small art film, and you actually got Comment to write your screenplay?

Comment is an incredibly awesome screenwriter, almost everyone in the industry knows him.

Of course, Comment used to be a writer as well, writing novels for over a decade. But after meeting Jiang Wen, he stopped writing novels and became a full-time screenwriter.

Some say he is Jiang Wen’s go-to screenwriter.

But actually, he first collaborated with Zhang Yimou right after ’Shanghai Triad.’

Zhang Yimou’s ’Let’s Talk’ was a screenplay he crafted.

And Lv Le’s ’Mr. Zhao’!

Jiang Wen’s ’The Invaders’ and ’The Sun Also Rises’!

He himself is a bigshot, and everyone he collaborates with is a bigshot too. Before even opening the screenplay of ’The Tale of Two Donkeys,’ Qi Hao had already agreed in his heart.

"Director Li, I have a question. Can I just ask directly?"

"No problem, go ahead."

"With your new work, plus Comment’s assistance in screenwriting, wouldn’t everyone in the industry be fighting like crazy for it? How did it end up in my hands?"

The capable do more work, the wise worry more, and the incapable have no worries.

Qi Hao just tends to overthink things.

And he’s afraid there might be traps in the script, like having the actor do something with the donkey.

He just wants to shed his idol persona, not his dignity.

"Haha, I never told anyone that Comment was the screenwriter. Only those still interested in the project without considering the screenwriter qualify to know I invited Comment to craft the screenplay."

Li Dawei tilted his chin up slightly.

He hoped to find someone truly interested in the story itself.

All unrelated to Comment, and certainly unrelated to his mom!

The last time Qi Hao said he’d go back and look at ’The Tale of Two Donkeys,’ he actually did.

Moreover, during their phone conversation, Li Dawei discovered Qi Hao knew more about the novel than he did.

He practically memorized the novel!

What kind of dedication is this!

Could there be anything more sincere than this?

Because of this overwhelming sincerity, Li Dawei rushed overnight from the capital to Hengdian and straightforwardly let Qi Hao know about Comment.

"I understand, Director. You enjoy your tea; I’ll take a look at the script, it won’t take long."

Qi Hao nodded, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders.

As Qi Hao focused intently on reading the script, Li Dawei idly surveyed Qi Hao’s suite.

Given Qi Hao’s status, the room’s class was naturally high.

An outer living room and an inner bedroom.

The outer area was used as an office space, furnished by the hotel with a sofa, desk, bookcase, and the like.

The bookcase was stocked with quite a few books.

Books like ’Brecht’s Plays,’ ’Actor Creation Quality Training,’ which are professional books on performance.

Qi Hao is an actor, so reading these kinds of books is perfectly reasonable.

However, seeing titles like ’Script Structure Design,’ ’Invisible Editing,’ ’Director’s Complete Creation Manual,’ ’Documentary Film Literature’ indicates Qi Hao’s more aggressive artistic pursuits and ambitions.

There were also many other categories, such as:

’Complete Tang Poems,’ ’Complete Song Lyrics’

’Ancient Prose Selections’

’General History of China,’ ’Red Star Over China’

’Maupassant’s Short Story Collection’

’Lu Xun’s Collection of Works’

’Gently Embrace Your Heart,’ ’Flower Dragon and Phoenix,’ ’Jade and Pearls at Hand’

’Possessive President’s Private Treasure,’ ’My Beautiful Young Lady’

’Qingyuan Year,’ ’Slaying Immortals’

...

Li Dawei considered himself to be someone who loved reading, but didn’t expect Qi Hao to be the same.

But isn’t this reading too eclectic?

It’s simply bizarre.

Didn’t people say Qi Hao was just a middle schooler, an illiterate who established a cool persona because his mind was empty?

If Qi Hao really read these books.

Li Dawei couldn’t understand what those who claim Qi Hao’s brain is empty have in their minds.

Those people are probably abnormal everywhere except for defecating, especially in the brain.

Li Dawei casually pulled out ’Possessive President’s Private Treasure,’ and after flipping through a few pages, he found it quite interesting.

What he didn’t know was that a door was slowly opening in front of him.